Two things are very much true about the visually stunning and yet sometimes a little bumpy adaptation of Hedda Gabler, a play by Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen. Tessa Thompson embodies the good and the bad parts of the character of Hedda to a dizzying, terrifying, and wholly satisfying level. And Nia DaCosta is a singularly focused and talented director, capable of meticulous, profound work.
Despite all those things, the film has its ups and downs, and depending on what you’re looking for, it might leave you feeling more than a little unsatisfied. Despite that—and the changes it makes to the source material, some for the better, some for the worse—Hedda still provides a very compelling narrative, particularly because Thompson and DaCosta seem to understand how to collaborate in a way that brings out the best of what both of them can do.
The movie, which takes Ibsen’s work and updates the story to 1950s England, focuses on Hedda Gabler, a newly married woman who deals with the weight of expectations and societal constraints by manipulating those around her in a dinner party that turns into tragedy in more ways than one. Unlike Ibsen’s play, this Hedda is biracial and queer. And that’s not all, the person at the center of Hedda’s obsession is now a woman, Eileen, vying for the same position as Hedda’s husband.
It’s easy to see why DaCosta decided to update the story this way, and these particular changes mesh pretty well with the source material. Women don’t always get to be messy, complex, vengeful, and sometimes mean the way Hedda is shown to be. So, there’s a lot to be said for allowing the character to exist as she is, not warts and all, but warts in full display from the beginning.
This is, perhaps, the movie’s greatest strength. There’s no attempt to downplay Hedda’s actions, no desire to portray the good and the bad so we can relate to the character, or even “forgive” her for the things she does. This is a slice of Hedda’s life, and it doesn’t paint her particularly well. And yes, she is a biracial woman, and a queer one. That’s particularly important not because it makes her more likable, but because it doesn’t.
However, for an adaptation that attempts to reimagine the original, the movie doesn’t really manage to reinvent the story in any tangible way. Thompson’s portrayal of Hedda is sublime, and if we feel invested in what she’s going through, it’s because she makes every moment not just believable, but engaging. But even Thompson and Nina Hoss, who exudes chemistry with Thompson in a role that can sometimes be a little thankless, considering we’re always pretty much on Hedda’s side, cannot manage to ground a movie that is, sometimes, too clever for its own good.
Despite all of this, Hedda is a good time. Because of Thompson. Because of DaCosta’s clear ideas and firm hand for details. Because it’s somehow very liberating to look at a trainwreck and know there’s nothing you can do to stop it. I don’t regret watching it. I might even watch it again. But will I enjoy the resolution of the narrative arc as much as I enjoyed the story Hedda is trying to tell and how it’s told? Probably not. And that remains the movie’s biggest problem, one that even the performances cannot fully overcome.
Agree? Disagree? What did you think of Hedda? Share with us in the comments below!
Hedda is available to stream on Prime Video.
